Fragile Reality
by Evilcupcake696
Summary: The fragile reality of existence, is that all things must come to an end. Unpleasant, though the thought of such a reality, it is the simple truth of mankind. Of mortality. When the world turns against its own heroes, Director Fury is forced to make the decision to disassemble. But how will the world cope when new threats arise and the avengers aren't there? Post movie. No slash
1. Chapter 1

_** Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, or ever will**_** be.**

...

**Fragile Reality**

**...**

The fragile reality of existence, is that all things must come to an end. Unpleasant, though the thought of such a reality, it is the simple truth of mankind. Of mortality.

No one could deny what ends could surely meet their world after all that had been done. The chutari, while unsuccessful in their attack had not left the fragile heart of midgard unharmed. Nothing had been the same since they came, and things didn't seem to be healing anytime soon. The once strong people of New York, seemed almost defeated in the days and months that passed after what many referred to as the largest disaster known to any generation. Between the broken streets that laid torn to pieces, and buildings that were entirely leveled, almost no one seemed to be able to carry on in their spirit. There was simply no way they could pull through it, many had thought to themselves. It was with this mindset that the people of New York began to slowly, unwillingly and most uncertainly, rebuild the lives they had once known.

Tony stared out his high set window at the busy work below. The work to rebuild New York had been going slow, but was surely getting done.

Now, Tony laughed bitterly to himself. _Well, if they'd have been smart enough to let us help, we'd probably be alot further by now.._

It was true, the people of New York had been happy for The Avengers right after their enemy was vanquished. But as everyone soon found out, gratitude fades quickly.

Not a few weeks later than it had been said, that the people followed suit in deciding who the blame for the destruction fell on. The once greatly praised heros of earth found themselves being persecuted day and night by everyone from politicians, to the everyday New York-er. It had been a tough decision to make. How could a group of valiants, even such as themselves, _help_ those who wouldn't even dare go near them; who wouldn't accept them.

Fury had called everyone together for one final council exactly 6 months after the invasion of New York. The hardest decision to make had been the one everyone knew had to happen.

Everyone had gathered, fully expectant of what was to come. Fury stood at the front of the room, sullen but determined. Everyone was seated around a large table in S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters- half expectant, half unsure.

The silence hung low in the room as everyone waited for Fury to give his word. Even Tony for the moment had lost his usual cocky, sarcastic persona and _seemed_ to be taking things seriously. (well, as far as Tony _could_ at least.)

Heaving a sigh, Tony let his hands fall from their place rubbing his temples down to the table with a small thud. He looked up at Fury and tried his best to muster his usual facade.

He gave a half-hearted cocky smile and looked around the room at the faces that surrounded him. Varying emotions from seriousness to boredom lit the faces that looked back at Tony, as though expecting the mechanic to break the silence after his sudden interruption.

Tony heaved an even greater sigh which earned him a look from Director Fury.

"What?" Tony stated bluntly, fake innocence spread smoothly over his voice.

With another pointed look from Fury, Tony dropped the act and looked him straight in the face.

"Well to be honest Patches, I thought when you called us you'd have a pretty good reason for it. I didn't think sitting in awkward silence was part of the itinerary."

Fury rolled his eye at Tony, choosing to ignore the "Patches" comment.

"And to be honest with _you _your greatness, I didn't expect a room with children that couldn't wait a few minutes to get started."

At this, Tony gestured to himself with mock offense at the children remark. Fury however had already turned around and had started pacing the floor, taking no notice.

"Well, as Stark so kindly pointed out, yes I wanted you all here to discuss some things all of you have noticed happening. Not just here in New York, but all around the country. Perhaps even further."

Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for Fury to get to the point.

"Well yeah," Clint interjected when Fury seemed to be pausing as if thinking what to say next.

"I mean, all of earth kinda just saw New York nearly get destroyed by thousands of aliens no one even _knew_ about, in a full scale invasion led by a crazy God with daddy issues.. I'd say that'd do a pretty good job of stirring things up." He commented airily, as he leaned back in his chair. "I mean, no big deal, right?"

Fury heaved an exasperated sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his hand.

Natasha rolled her eyes and looked at Fury. "You were saying, Director?"

"Right.." Fury grunted as he stopped his pacing and stood at the front of the table again.

"What I mean in particular Clint, is the fact that, well.. Our own have turned on us. We've seen this coming for a while now, what with all the politicians jumping to finger pointing, and whatever else." He waved his hand around dismissively "But its not _just_ the politicians anymore, is it?" At this he looked back down at the ground again, rubbing his head absent mindedly.

At this Steve straightened up ever so slightly; reflexively going into Captain mode. "So, what, people are blaming us for all this? I mean, you'd have to be crazy to believe that, right?" He looked around slightly unnerved.

Fury sighed "Well sadly, Captain, a lot of people _are_ just crazy enough to think its _better_ to believe that we're the ones responsible."

Bruce looked up from his water bottle he'd been staring at to avoid eye contact with the furious director. "It makes enough sense, when you think about it I mean." He said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at him, some quizzical, some unsure. When no one made a move to speak he sighed softly and started up again, this time looking everyone in the face in turn.

"I mean.. That's what humans are all about isn't it? People don't like to accept change.. It's not something we do very easily or willingly. And to think that something of _this_ scale, could come along and change everything we know about the world, I can imagine how someone would want to let someone else have the blame for once.. I mean, anything to keep from having to believe everything can stay the same, somehow."

Bruce gave the smallest awkward shrug and went back to staring at the table.

From the way Thor was looking around the room after this was said, it was his turn to be confused. "I do not understand, the people of New York wish to be destroyed?" Thor asked as his brow knit together.

Director fury leaned back against the railing of the walls. "Unfortunately, yes." He stood up and looked around the room once more-some emotion no one could explain hidden plainly under his usual blank mask.

"I'm calling it, guys. We're done here. The world doesn't have a need for superheros they _don't want."_

The room went silent as everyone contemplated what had just happened. SHEILD putting an end to the avengers.. Putting an end to almost everything good about -and in- the world. And everyone being.. Happy with it?

It didn't sit right with Tony.

Nothing good ever came from sitting back and just _giving up._ The very thought made bile rise in his throat, just thinking of all the people -no, all the _villains_- who would benefit from this.. Everyone else would surely suffer. But they themselves- just. Couldn't. See it.

Tony felt the familiar pounding of adrenaline as rage started to fill his thoughts. _You're just gonna lay down and let this happen, Fury?!_

Tony was just a half-step away from voicing exactly where he thought Fury could shove that idea, when Steve suddenly spoke, having recovered enough to be able to respond calmly.

"So those are the orders then?" He stated calmly, no emotion showing on his face. Director Fury looked to Steve, and slowly gave an affirming nod. "But don't you think that idea's a bit-"

"Dangerous? Stupid? Reckless? Oh hell, why not all three." Tony simply couldn't help himself anymore as he sauntered back to the front of the room.

Natasha looked up at Tony. "But I thought dangerous, stupid and reckless was everything you went for, Tony."

Tony scoffed as he turned to face the large window by the table. "Of course, that right there is everything _I_ stand for, Everything I do with _my own_ life. But these people-" He gestured out the window to the streets below,"These people shouldn't have to have their lives decided for them! Decided for them by a government agency, who I guess knows everything about what people need, _apparently!_"

Tony could tell he'd let his hold on his anger slip, but quite frankly, he just didn't care.

"Tony," Bruce started.

Tony looked up, vaguely aware of his own breath which seemed to be coming faster than usual.

"..I think.. I think Fury is right."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Bruce held his hand up. "Just give me one minute to explain, okay?" He said in a reasonable, calm voice. Tony huffed a breath and sat down at the table.

"Alright," Bruce started, looking around the room. "Guys.. It's probably the best idea to go with this. For now, I mean. We can do all we can, but when it comes down to it, you cant help someone who doesn't want it. Trying to force ourselves out there would only further the bad view people already have about us."

Bruce looked at Tony directly now, "I know what this means to you, heck, what it means to all of us. But there are some things that just can't be fixed by us. And after all, people have gotten along without us holding their hands for a long time. Maybe, all they really _need_ is a little time to sort things out for themselves."

Fury held his breath as Bruce's words sunk in. As he looked around, they seemed to have made an impact for the better.  
Well, at least Tony hadn't broken anything yet, if that was considered a good sign.

Thor nodded solemnly, telling his friends they had fought valiantly. Natasha and Clint both looked at one another, silently agreeing this was best. Steve seemed to be struggling with the thought, but shoved his personal difference aside for the greater good. Tony looked for the most part, under control now.

He sat silently and turned to Fury, face back to arrogant. "Just for now." He said with a cocky grin as he slapped him on the back and walked out.

"This can't end well.." Everyone looked to Steve, sharing the same feeling that he had just summed up what would inevitably come in the next few months.

_. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . ._

Author's note: I'll keep this brief, seeing as many people don't enjoy walls on walls of text from the Author.

So I don't think its really a secret that this is my first fan-fiction. (probably errors all around, sorry!) So this first chapter is more than anything pilot. Just background and setting the stage mainly. I have basically zero confidence in myself, so I have no idea if this story was total crap or not. I'd really appreciate some feedback, perhaps constructive criticism? Be honest with me, is this worth continuing?

Did you enjoy it?

Alright, well with that, thanks to anyone who did take the time to read :) *Hugs*


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a good year since Fury's council, and everyone had gone their separate ways.

Stark tower, for the most part, stayed empty and quiet. Tony was still getting used to the whole "No longer an Avenger" thing, not being used to the quiet that followed when everyone left.

Not that anyone had ever stayed for too long at a time if they could help it. Even when everyone had technically been staying under one roof, it had been more or less a 'come and go as you please' feeling, rather than an actual home for everyday living.

Still, even though many just passed through when they could, maybe staying to rest a while, the quiet was seemingly denser. Pepper and Tony still lived together, and both noticed almost immediately how hollow the tower felt now that the familiar faces had all gone their separate ways.

However, both Tony and Pepper managed to keep themselves busy enough without worrying too much about the past.

Pepper seemed to be one of the "go to" people when it came to business management, and soon found herself behind towering piles of paperwork in her office everyday, leaving Tony to himself most of the day. Not that he particularly minded, in his spare time, Tony had taken to his garage, which had become a plethora of mech-suits and electronics over the last year. He would slave over his inventions day and night, perfecting the flawless.

Always ready. For what, he was never quite sure.

He had always told himself that everything was in his head after everything that had followed the attack in Manhattan; that everything was going to start being _right_ in the world again.

No mater how many times he told himself this, his suspicions always seemed to be reconfirmed on the news. Everything from Robbery to outright slaughter was a constant on the daily network reports. The worst part, was that it didn't seem to be getting any better.

Tony had been watching cautiously for weeks, waiting for _something_.

He couldn't quite place the feeling of anticipation that seemed to fill his nerves, making his heart pound when some sort of new terror happened. Perhaps it was just a leftover feeling. The feeling of a washed out superhero. Or perhaps, the feeling of someone who _knew_ something was wrong.

to his horror, his suspicions were confirmed.

He ran between two highly stocked tables, overflowing with gadgets and gears (he had told himself he would get around to sorting eventually,) skidding to a stop in front of his main computer screen. He quickly began typing in keywords, talking to the ceiling as he did so.

"Jarvis, enlarge the news feed! What's happened?"

-_Well sir,- _the calm, British voice responded, -_It would appear that we are under attack. All SHIELD protocols show an extensive responsive force being sent out immediately.-_

Tony watched as the news feed was pulled full screen, side by side with a complete list of actions being taken by SHIELD. Headlines scrolled across the screen of the news feed:

GERMANY UNDER ATTACK: UNKNOWN FORCE OF AGGRESSORS DESTROY MUNICH.

_There's no way SHIELD will be able to get there in time.._ Tony thought to himself as he watched the arrival times change with every passing second. There was just no way.

SHIELD was surely the strongest force Tony had seen by far, but a force that big needed _time_ to arrive.. They needed a response team.

Tony wasted no time and barreled haphazardly down the stairs to his lower deck of the garage where all his suits were held. He quickly began to unhook his recently repaired MARK VII, anxiety making every second pass even slower than the last. He just needed to get there. And quick.

_-Sir, Director Fury is on the line, he says its urgent.-_

Tony stood still, allowing his armor to enclose around him, watching as his suit slowly clicked its final closure around his arms and felt his helmet swung into its familiar place leaving his sight full of screens of flashing light and color.

Tony felt irritation pass through him as he suddenly registered what Jarvis had been attempting to tell him not a few seconds ago. _Time really does seem to drag on when you're stressed, _He thought idly before returning to the matter at hand.

"Jay, in case you haven't noticed the world needs me right now. Tell Director Fury that if he thinks I'm gonna stand around and chat, hes out of his mind. Or maybe he was never there to begin with.." He finished mostly to himself.

He started his rear engines and blasted off towards the sky, suddenly aware of two thing: one, the red flashing signs appearing on his radar. With a jump, he noted that those funny red lights were indicating heat-seeking missiles just on his rear.

Secondly, the familiar voice of his Director screaming in his ear "TONY I SWEAR TO GOD!"

Tony flew higher in the sky, feeling his suit shake ever harder with the steadily rising altitude. He could feel his blood pounding in his ears with the raised pressure of the situation.

Tony swerved sideways and quickly rolled downwards, causing two missiles to knock into one another, shooting him forward from the blast that resulted. Just as he was able to boost himself out of the smoke left behind, he watched as three more missiles sprung from nowhere on his radar as they rocketed straight for him.

Fury, who had apparently overridden Jarvis' Cellular functions, was now screaming at Tony in full, spine chilling rage that he had mastered so perfectly over the years.

"GOD Tony! I ask one favor,_ one DAMN STINKING FAVOR!" _He rolled his eyes at the director's inevitable speech, pulling a sharp barrel roll to avoid another missile,

"All I ask is that you pick up your DAMN PHONE! You know.. The one I'm supposed to _CONTACT_ you with?"

"Alright, alright! Get your panties out of a bunch, Fury. As interesting as your lectures are, I'm a little busy doing real work right now. We can talk later."

He turned his jets full blast and ascended higher, forcing all missiles behind him to crash together in a ear splitting explosion.

Tony quickly began to scan the surroundings of New York. Jarvis gave him a complete layout of the city, and he was relieved to see that many of the civilians were smart enough to _run. _

_Alright, _He thought to himself, _With everyone out of the way, I should be able to loop around the stark tower and find whats causing all this-_"**Excuse me your majesty**!"

Tony's ear began to ring loudly as Fury let his rage flow. "You _do not_ put **me** on hold. You can take one minute of your life to let me try my best to _save it_, dammit!"

Tony finished scanning the streets and sighed looking around "Okay! Sheesh already, I saw the news so I-" Tony quickly ducked just in time to dodge what looked to him to be an electric, Prong tipped spear.

He watched with a horrified expression as it hit a near-by skyscraper, Immediately frying the power inside, making the lights crash with a deafening bang.

"What the- Fury, what exactly are we _dealing_ with here? I'm told there was an attack in Germany, and now electric harpoons are being shot in New York. Call me crazy, but I'm not stupid. Something here isn't adding up, and you know it. I want to know exactly what SHIELD is doing to cause this."

Silence followed this statement from Fury. When he next responded, it was no longer with anger or rage so much as sheer disbelief.

"_._. Okay, you're crazy." He responded flatly, "SHIELD, as you know, has done its _very best_ to stay out of the world for well over a year now. There is no possible way the blame could be aimed at our sector of work, because we haven't done anything that would even possibly begin to invoke a fire-fight. Anyways, Stupid assumptions aside," He continued, "There still is that little problem you're having with your missile chucking friend over there. Track whatever it is down and destroy it. We don't have all the details right this second, but once you have your sector clear I want you to gather whatever tech is left from the enemy and haul your scrawny iron butt down here yourself."

He paused, apparently thinking what to say next. "It's time we took matters back into our own hands."

Tony had Jarvis set up a few scanners while Fury was talking, searching for the foreign energy coming off the missiles. An all too familiar pulsing green-blue energy seemed to be radiating off of each one.

"Got it. I'll be there in no time. Oh, and Save a cold one for me." He said as he jetted down close to the pavement, following the newly traced energy source to its roots.

"Good luck, Tony." The earpiece went dead as Fury hung up.

Tony breathed a long sigh and looked up at the disembodied voice in his suit. "Well Jay, you up for rolling some enemy heads?"

He asked, laughing lightly when his computer promptly responded "_-Fire away, Sir-"._

_. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . . __. . . ._

_Author's note: _Alright chapter 2! I'm surprised I've gotten this far. As always, any feedback is welcome and I enjoy to hear constructive criticism

Note to Avengerscrazygal Hey, I'm up for help if you have a sharp set of eyes lol. PM me to work out some details if you would!

Hugs to everyone for reading :3


	3. Chapter 3

Tony landed hard on his back as he crashed into the pavement, leaving a giant metal man imprint deep into the ground.

Tony let out a groan as he stood up shaking the crackled rubble off of himself.

_Well, at least we found the enemy, _He grimaced to himself as he started to re-charge his repulsor.

It was true, that after he had looked he had quickly found what he was looking for. Not just one enemy, but at least a hundred. Dozens of Chitauri soldiers in New York. Again. Tony was just happy that only a few of them had brought hovercrafts. What he didn't need was the crossfire coming from the sky and the ground at the same time.

It just kept getting harder to keep up with the rising levels of ammunition they seemed to be able to pull from nowhere.

_Magic,_ Tony scoffed to himself. _Why does it always have to be some sort of vague answer like magic._.

It had been well over an hour he had been fighting off this force of seemingly never ending soldiers. He had to hand it to these guys, they knew how to take a punch.

With a small, heavy grunt of disgust he jetted back down towards the ground flying between two hovercrafts, nearly getting caught in the the web of electric needles they sent his way. They had upgraded their weapons _exactly_ to kill machinery, it seemed.

The pulsing electric needles shot past him as he planted his heavy boots into the metallic skull of a ground soldier, earning a hissing screech from the metal-work skull as it collapsed inward.

He shook off the debris and quickly turned around, delivering a point-blank repulsor blast to the face to yet another soldier who had been attempting to claw him from behind just a moment earlier. The ground soldier screeched loudly, calling out in distress to his fellow soldiers.

He watched as the screaming passed through the crowd of soldiers. The cry grew louder as many joined in, rushing forward to destroy the one who had caused it.

_Oh, for the love of.._ Tony jetted upward, quickly maneuvering out of the way of the growing pile of angry, screeching Chitauri that all raced towards him, attempting to rip him apart limb from limb.

Tony jumped and turned around to the ear-splitting crack of thunder that came from overhead, frying the sky soldiers around to oblivion within seconds.

He smiled to himself as he saw the familiar form of Thor emerge from the smoke, still swinging his hammer in all directions causing lightning to crash unceasingly against the pale gray sky.

From behind himself, Tony felt a hand grab around his wrist, twisting his arm and crushing his suit into his forearm in one fluid movement. He gasped out in pain, absentmindedly noting the aching throb growing steadily more painful in his arm. Tony swerved around, having recovering enough to turn and punch the alien's face literally _into_ his skull with his good arm.

The Chitauri fell off the strange hover-craft to the ground, making a dull thud that could hardly be heard as it had fallen among the raging, shrieking ones below.

Tony stood for a moment examining his arm. Jarvis ran a quick scan showing it broken in two places with severe bruising where the metal pushed against his skin. Good thing Jarvis had a few low level painkillers upgraded into him. It wouldn't be enough to entirely kill the pain, but it would be enough just to numb it for now.

_Broken- Just wonderful_. Tony thought sardonically. _Pep's gonna be pissed when I come back like this.._

He shook his head, not caring to think of the scenario at the moment. After all, there was still a battle to be won.

He jetted up onto a low skyscraper nearby, trying his best to keep his distance from Thor as he swung his hammer relentlessly, crushing together two and three hovering soldiers at a time.

It was always best to stay out of Thor's way when it came to battle.. Though he would never even admit it to himself, Tony never wanted to be anywhere near Thor's hammer again. He had seen the damage Thor had done at their first meeting- Trying anything like that again, would be nothing short of complete idiocy.

He looked up to see Thor finishing off another barrage with ease, apparently not even breaking a sweat over the effort needed to destroy the metal monsters.

Thor quickly ended by smashing out the entire middle of the last one, leaving it to disintegrate mid-air, falling to almost nothing.

Thor seeing Tony, turned and smiled his largest grin. He quickly flung his hammer in the air, landing next to Tony with a loud, heavy '_clunk'_ from his shoes.

"Man of Iron! It is a pleasure to serve with my midgardian brother of arms once more." At this, Thor gave a low bow to Tony, which was awkwardly returned with a small wave of the hand from Tony.

Thor turned to stare at the streets down below. The soldiers did not appear to be able to shake a lot of the lightning Thor had sent their way earlier, and appeared to be having a hard time regaining themselves.

Tony leaned backwards, popping his back. He was definitely more at ease having, now that he had another set of hands willing to help.

_Today has been way too long.._ He mused to himself.

"Yeah it's great seeing you too bud." Tony stated as he stretched out his uninjured arm, "To be honest, I really wasn't expecting you or the Chitauri to show up at my doorstep today."

Thor looked slightly miffed by this comment, looking down at the skyscraper he was standing on, clearly not understanding Tony didn't mean an actual doorstep.

Tony couldn't help but laugh at his expression, To which Thor gave a affronted look.

"Err never mind, Thor. It's a.. Earth.. thing.." He finished lamely, turning back to the streets.

Tony and Thor looked down as many of the soldiers started to stand back up, shrieking in what Tony thought very well could have been a long string if obscenities in their native language.

The remaining Chitauri had all gathered together on the street below and appeared to be retreating. Limping and still screeching, they all vanished into thin air behind clouds of the same strange blue and green mist.

Tony was taken aback at first, when they first started disappearing, jumping forward slightly at the sudden movement. Thor on the other hand, seemed completely at ease. Only cursing under his breath at the ones who had managed to escape.

They had escaped, and there was nothing either of them could say or do about it.

...

It hadn't taken SHIELD long to arrive after that, readily prepared and quickly clearing the streets of the foreign objects, loading up everything they could find.

Tony and Thor landed on the ground next to trucks packed to the top with everything from dismantled or destroyed guns, to the actual carcasses of the strange metal heathens.

Soon, besides the shadow of a blast left behind, you could hardly tell there was ever anything there.

Tony had to admit, if there's one thing these guys were professional about, it was definitely the cover up work. _Almost a little too good.. _Tony thought to himself, wondering how many news stories had gotten the SHIELD face lift. _Probably more than Fury would ever care to admit to, _He answered to himself with slight irritation at the thought.

Tony was brought back from his train of thought Moments later. Fury had apparently arrived in the few minutes Tony had been zoning out, fuming over things the government probably never _would_ let anyone know.

Before he knew it, Fury stood in front of himself and Thor, greeting them casually and then continuing to walk around the site looking over the work being done, gesturing for Thor and Tony to join him.

"Amazing the amount of damage a few loose.." He paused looking to Thor, clearly changing what he was going to say. "Visitors, can do. Thank you for the extra help, Thor. Looks like Tony sure needed it." Fury commented lightly staring down at the collapsed suit piece on his arm.

Tony merely rolled his eyes, scoffing at the sentiment. "Well I didn't technically need it, thank you very much.._"_ He grumbled mostly to himself, rubbing absentmindedly at his arm as the dull throbs of pain came back to his attention. He walked over to look at a piece of armor some SHIELD agents were carrying to another heavy loaded truck, willing himself to think of something other than pain for the moment.

"It was my pleasure, Director of Fury. It would seem this mess belongs to me. Forgive me for causing your kind trouble once more.. I fear this is my fault.." At this, Thor's shoulders sagged as a small wave of depression covered his every movement, emphasizing the downcast tone of his voice.

Fury nodded solemnly, moving forward to pat Thor hard on the shoulder, looking him in the face with varying emotions of determination and sympathy.

"Don't be stupid, you can't be responsible for all the crazy going on round here. And trying to pinpoint the blame on yourself won't get you anywhere closer to solving anything." He gave a crooked smile, "Not all of earth's problems should have to fall on the shoulders of one man. That's why we're here." Fury finished, gesturing around the scene to the many SHIELD agents rushing along.

Thor thought about this for a moment, finally nodding and turning to stare at the ground, knuckles white from tightness.

Tony came walking back over to the group, after watching SHIELD start their engines, quickly escaping the scene of the battle before anyone would even know to ask what had happened.

"Oh yeah, that's why you're here, alright.._" _Tony sniffed angrily to himself. "I mean, after all, It's not like you guys just showed up to clean up the mess left behind, but hey. What do I know." He waved his hand around with an air of disinterest. "I mean after all, that would be pretty frustrating if someone else decided to start taking credit or something. Or maybe _for_ something, but y'know, whatever."

Fury rolled his eyes and looked at Tony with a serious hardness about his face.

"I assure you Stark, we appreciate what you did in helping us out, however if it hadn't been for you being stupid in the first place, we might not have had to fight at all."

Tony gave a small mock look of offence, which Fury blatantly ignored, too used to Tony's array of sarcasm.

Tony dropped to his usual cocky smile before turning to Fury to ask, "Wait, not have to fight?" His brow knit together in confusion, "What's that even supposed to mean, Patchy? Last I checked, according to SHIELD there was 'no reason to attack'.." He emphasized with finger quotations.

"I think you will find there is always a motive behind an attack, Mr. Stark. Whether caused by someone or formed themselves, there will always be a reason to what people do."

At this he looked between Tony and Thor. "Now," Fury started, "I think we're all going to find we have quite a bit to talk about, so shall we move this conversation down town? I expect the others will be waiting for us already. Besides, we gotta get Humpty Dumpty to a doctor.. That arm isn't looking good. "

Tony gave an exaggerated sigh, but nodded and followed Fury alongside Thor without a word to the small black car around the corner that was waiting to escort them.

For that one moment, Tony found himself strangely happy. Happy to be returning to the team. To his friends.

_For now, at least. _He told himself as they drove silently in the light drizzle of rain all the way along to SHIELD Headquarters.

...

Sorry for the late update! I don't really have a schedule for this seeing as how I'm writing it as I go. Okay! So I worked on my paragraphing, is it easier to read? I'm really not sure if I'm doing this right XD Just kind of following what I've seen other stories look like in the past.

Also, I know the story is moving kinda slow right now, but please bear with me :) It's about to start getting faster in pace I promise! It's always a bit slow getting the ball rolling it seems. Also! this story is un-beta'd so please point out any errors that might need fixing :3 Thanks so much!

Hugs to everyone who reads and reviews :3

Oh! And as always constructive criticism is appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

...

After a long drive to SHIELD Headquarters, and a personally enforced trip to the Medical Corp on site by Director Fury himself, Thor and Tony were finally able to leave to the meeting being conducted inside.

The three men entered the large conference room and were immediately greeted by the familiar faces of their once close companions.

Tony came in first. Arm in a sling, rings under his eyes (He hadn't slept well in weeks due to his anxiety), and he was still able to manage his usual smirk.

He sauntered in, sly grin in place but felt it falter ever so slightly looking around the room.

Not only was the overall atmosphere of the room like that of a particularly dismal funeral, but everyone in the room seemed to be nursing some sort of injury, with looks ranging from stressed to indignant across their features.

Tony was just about to take a spot at the table when he froze, seeing what everyone else had been so absolutely disgruntled about moments before.

In the middle of the table, a large news feed ran across a glowing holographic sphere, showing multiple networks and channels, all showing the same coverage of different battles happening worldwide.

Tony could hardly believe it. All this time away from the world, keeping their noses clear, and everyone inside the media had _still_ managed to force them to look like the bad guys.

Each report showed specific footage of one of the members sitting at the large round table, destroying the cities in one way or another. with headlines such as "LEGEND TURNED LUNATIC?" or "DERANGED VIGILANTE STRIKES CITY" just to name a few.

Tony felt how quickly he had changed from completely at ease, to blood boiling rage towards the people dumb enough to blame _them again_ for what was going on.

"They. Cannot. Be serious." Tony managed through gritted teeth as he watched footage from a street camera of himself in his suit. From the view they had chosen to take it from, Tony appeared to be wreaking utter chaos in the city. 'Conveniently' forgetting to mention the part where there were things actually _attacking _the city.

"Oh they are completely serious," Clint replied, watching another feed someone had taken of Natasha they had changed to look menacing. "The only thing I wanna know is why anyone would buy this," He gestured at the many screens around themselves.

"Forget who's buying it, why make it in the first place?" Natasha asked, a chilling calm settled in her voice.

"Oh I can understand why." Steve said in a hushed voice that seemed to be trembling slightly, to Tony at least.

"Look around," Steve continued, "They've got plenty of market to sell this kinda stuff to. If there's a demand for anything, doesn't matter what it is, these kinds of people will jump all over it just to make a quick buck."

Steve folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, closely watching the screen, a determined, disgusted expression across his face.

Tony had begun to pace the room furiously, only stopping to stare with something that could only be described as madness between the people and the projection every few seconds.

"And no ones gonna stop it either, huh.." Tony stated slowly as he suddenly stopped in the front of the room where Fury usually stood to conduct the meetings.

All eyes turned to him, utterly and completely incredulous as he started _laughing. _Not a light chuckle, but a full hearted, makes your sides ache burst of laughter.

Tony couldn't help himself as the thought had come to him, _it was too perfect. _Tony thought to himself as realization re-focused his thought process._ That's it!_

He let his laughter fade, but kept a confident, cocky grin in place as he beginning to walk around the table to get a better view of the screens, not realizing the 'oh no, he's finally lost it' looks that were being cast at him from all directions.

Natasha's hand simultaneously slid down to her gun as she watched Tony gambol around the room like a mad man.

"Tony.." She started in a calm voice, hand on the trigger below the table.

Tony stopped and stood at the front of the table once more as he crossed his arm not in a sling across his chest, making a sort of awkward arm fold.

"It was too perfect." Tony stated, a smile on his lips and a look of assurance, almost as though this sentence had some how put an end to everyone's fear of him being a complete lunatic.

Bruce looked up to Fury who had been standing in the back of the room with him, and urgently whispered in a hushed voice that bounced off the corridor walls, "You're _sure _you didn't give him too much painkiller...?"

Tony gave a small frown and waved his hand, dismissing Bruce's comment, eyes shining with something like excitement.

"No! Don't you guys see? The whole thing. This whole scheme is _too perfect._ Lets think about this for a minute," Tony stated as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

Natasha's relaxed slightly, but still stayed poised in case he really _was_ drugged beyond comprehension. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Tony, how erratic his train of thought was sometimes.

"Let's see, we've got the whole world fighting against us," Tony counted on his fingers, as though trying to get his point across to a room of toddlers. "People not wanting any sort of protection, then on top of that, people who would immediately throw any of us under the bus for 'disturbing the peace'."

"Which means.." "-Anyone could get away with anything, so long as _we fell_ for the trap to save the day." Bruce finished Tony's sentence as comprehension dawned on his face.

"Which would make it the perfect crime," Clint clarified, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back lightly in his chair, suddenly quite impressed as Tony's mad rambling became clear.

Fury quietly slunk back to the front of the room, looking around with determination plain on his face.

"Given, that could very well be the case," Fury commented as he made to stare out the large dark window that covered the front wall. "So! Why do it then? Why would someone send a mini invasion just for the hell of making my team look stupid. Seems like these _things_ would have _something_ better to do."

"The invasion was never intended sabotage." Thor stated quietly from the back, looking at the floor with anger that could have burned a hole in the ground.

Steve glanced up at Thor, just as many others in the room had done.

"What other intention do they have? They seemed more than obliged to rocket us off the face of the world last time, whats to keep them from doing it again?" Steve asked as he looked around to the others.

Thor glanced upwards, his gaze now filled with a mixture of pity and grief.

Tony glanced away, suddenly quite uncomfortable. He couldn't stand to watch someone so strong look so.. Broken. There was just no other word for it.

Thor sat up, straightening his posture ever so slightly. "There is no doubt in my mind that the attack was planned, but not for your kind. The Chitauri have been relentless since my brother's failure to defeat your people." Thor stared outward, looking very far off in thought.

He continued in a deep, concerned voice .

"For far too long now, my people have fought against the beasts of darkness. Asgard thought their troubles were to cease once they had shackled and enslaved my brother for his crimes. For many a long month Asgard was peaceful once more.. Rejoicing, now Loki had become their prisoner of war."

Thor turned to the rest, his face hardened from emotion and his eyes shining with hatred.

"The Chitauri invaded my home, in search of the one who had failed their cause. Long did the war proceed, our warriors against theirs. The wise all-father in his might was victorious in defeating the one who had lead them into battle, but he was too late to save my brother from the judgement of the people. Nobody but my Father had known the reason for their invasion, and he refused to give away the true intention knowing that the people would reject to fight for the beast my brother had become. He tried as he would to keep the people blind, fearing only for Loki's safety. But the people of Asgard are a wise people, and very few of our kind have such disguise so easily pulled over them. So the people of Asgard rebel even now. They would refuse to protect even their own kind against these monsters."

Every person in the room seemed to be frozen in place listening to Thor. Even Tony made the move to speak, feeling any sort of disturbance at this point would be unacceptable beyond recognition.

"Here are whence these troubles came to Midgard. The Chitauri continue to ravage across all the nine realms. Seeking Loki, relentlessly fighting anyone who would come between them. I believe this is what has happened to your world and why the beasts fought today. They still seek him, for all-father has made his existence unknown."

Thor glanced around the room giving a rough nod, clearly not wanting to discuss more.

Fury glanced about the room, taking in the detail of the faces he passed over.

"So any attack that had been planned, was never planned for us, so much as planned for Loki.."

Thor's gaze went upward to meet Fury's, as he nodded gruffly.

"I believe so, Director of Fury. Long they have been tracing my brother, searching for his magic. Your world happens to be one of the places where he has not only used his tricks to travel, but also in battle."

Clint seemed not at all happy with this response.

"Okay, then trap happened to be _just_ convenient timing-"

"No, it couldn't have just been that, if the Chitauri are trying to hunt down Loki they still would have needed something that would work for them. Some kind of plan to bring everything all together." Bruce reasoned, still seeming very uncomfortable for all the tension in the room.

"What if its both.." Natasha said in a hushed voice looking grimly towards the news feed.

"The Chitauri clearly had reason to strike, why not use the people they failed to capture to their full potential? Perhaps it was _for_ us, just not in the way we've been thinking. The people wouldn't only have turned against one of us, but also turn against Loki as well." Natasha finished, sweeping a stray piece of hair from her face calmly.

"Of course," Tony thought out loud, earning him the attention of the surroundings.

"No one in their right mind here would be willing to protect the one they thought had _brought_ the invasion to their doorstep!

These junk-yard machines were hoping that we would be willing to _help them."_

"It's amazing how much mischief that one can cause without even trying.." Steve murmured, head leaned against his hand on the table.

"That's it!" Tony smiled and snapped his fingers as he jumped up suddenly.

"Thor, where is Loki now?"

Thor gave him a confused look, but told him nonetheless.

"He resides in Asgard, hidden from the people.. Man of Iron, what-"

"No time to explain, Thor. I've got a dark haired God to punch."

Tony said in a reasoning voice as he barreled out the door, leaving many casting quizzical looks after him.

...

AUTHORS NOTES: Okay for starters I am a horrible person for not updating this sooner. My computer decided it was time to kick the bucket, leaving me without for near two weeks. This chapter is a bit longer than the rest, I think. I wrote it all today, seeing as how this is the first day with a working computer again :D That being said, there are probably continuity errors, or something wrong with the spelling, paragraphing, or otherwise. Thanks for reading!

Note to Margaret: Oops, while writing so much going on, I think I did forget about that just a tad. I've edited the chapter so it fits in a bit better XD Thanks for the review! Oh, and sharp eyes. Thanks for catching that one.

Note to Avengerscrazygal: I think Tumblr hates me. I found you but it won't let me send a message D:

Hugs to everyone who read! An extra special high five to those who review. Thanks!


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